Gale's Storm

CHAPTER 11

Rock was worried about Lillian, none of his close friends or family have ever been hurt like that. He tried to reassure himself that James knew what he was doing when he used the herb poultice on her arm. He was going to trust James, he disobeyed his own commander, in front of all three of them. He was committed to this, he was one of the few helping and understanding humans in Nemus from what Rock has seen.

This was one of the first times Rock had struggled to fall asleep. Everything was buzzing around in his mind like a swarm of lost bees.

Lillian put herself in that danger, after barely joining a few days ago! This quest is like a daydream Veil would have. I wonder what she's doing now? Probably worrying about me along with the rest of the colony. They probably think I died a while ago, how long have I been out here? Hasn't it been a month or two or something like that? Well, I guess I'll just have to surprise them by coming back with Gale, Lillian and now James. The trains of thoughts circled, combined and looped around in Rock's mind until he finally fell into a light sleep.

He felt like he had slept for only a few minutes when Lillian woke him up. She seemed to be in a lot less pain, though she too looked rather tired. James and Gale were sitting around the fire talking with one another. Rock heard something about fire and swords. A flaming sword crossed his mind for a second before he got up.

His left arm felt slightly chilly since the sleeve was gone. He'd just have to get used to it, he wasn't getting it back now. Lillian went over to James and Gale with Rock following shortly after. Gale was telling James about her life in Oak Colony.

Rock volunteered to get breakfast, so he shapeshifted and flew off to find food. The empty field they were right next to made it easy for him to hunt in, (he needed it easy since he was tired that morning). Small mice scurrying around everywhere in the tall paling grass. Rock caught about 6 field mice (most of which were rather big for field mice) before he came back.

James looked at the mice in Rock's hand like Rock was crazy for even touching them.

He must not be used to having to hunt and cook everything on his own. He'll get used to it. Thought Rock as he handed them over to Gale who had some herbs prepared for making breakfast.

"Do we have any bread to go with breakfast?" James asked as Gale pulled the mice off the fire. All three of the shapeshifters looked at James with no idea what he was talking about.

"Do you guys not know what bread is?" he asked. Everyone shook their heads and he said; "Well I guess I'll have to just settle for roasted rats."

Everyone ate their mice, and James found it to be better than he thought it would be. They were now debating on where to go and whether to stay another day for Lillian and to train and plan. Rock voted to stay another day, mainly because he wanted to nap through most of the day, he was tired from the encounter with the commander the day before. James and Lillian wanted to find Pine Colony and ask them to join in the alliance. Gale wanted to stay there for another day, she wanted to practice her fire magic, she also countered that James could show them some self defense and attacking moves.

He agreed with Gale that he could show them a thing or two, with and without swords. So it was settled, they would stay another day there, by the practice field. Gale wanted James to practice with her, so they went to the field. Lillian also went with them to watch and study their fighting moves. Rock decided he was going to nap until he felt rested enough.

He was woken by Lillian yet again, finally feeling rested. She wanted to practice something with him, so he went with her to the edge of the large field where he saw James and Gale sparring.

"I want to practice an easy blocking move with you. Can you help me by aiming strikes at me so I can block them?" Lillian asked him. He agreed, "I'm not the best, but I'll try. I'm not aiming for your right side though,"

Rock started to try and strike her with his fist and she blocked him almost every time. Right before they would start to try and block kicks, they heard a loud whooshing sound from the clearing. Gale has started using fire magic in her spar with James, though she wasn't hurting him at all. Rock refocused on Lillian, aiming some lower strikes at her.

They kept this going for a while before they heard Gale's fire magic cease and James's sword slide into its sheath. They heard the two talking and came into the field to find burnt places scattered around the entire clearing and small flames on a patch of the tall grass where James was trying to put it out.

"How'd the spar go?" Rock asked the two.

"Really well actually. We started without magic and weapons, but James kept winning because he has far more experience than I do. And it went downhill with my fire and his sword from there. We're calling it a draw, I almost melted his sword," Gale told them as the glow of her hands faded.

"You fight really well for someone with no experience," James told her as they headed towards their camp.

It was just past noon when they got back. They decided to have lunch, Rock wasn't excited for when they would stop eating lunch in a week and would savor his fullness in the coming weeks. Lillian offered to go and catch some fish in a nearby river, Rock advised not to, because of her injury. James thought it wouldn't hurt her and Gale agreed saying that if she could practice with him, she could fish.

Rock saw Lillian as she bolted off through the trees, deeper into the forest. James went off to find some more firewood for them. He returned shortly with a whole lot of thick sticks and he put them on the charred pile that was the firepit.

Gale lit the fire passively as she stared off into the distance, spacing out distractedly. A few minutes later Lillian came back with a handful of fish. It was odd, they had bitemarks like the fish they had had a day or two earlier.

"Lillian, how did you catch these fish in your shark form? Bull sharks live in saltwater, don't they? They must, right?" Rock asked, puzzled.

"Oh, right yeah, bull sharks can live in freshwater or saltwater. So I can fish anywhere," she explained.

Everyone looked fascinated, except for Gale, who was still staring off into the distance. Lillian gaveher the fish, snapping her out of her trance. James suggested they use lemon juice and something called 'butter' to season the fish. All of the shapeshifters were confused, so he suggested oil instead. They were luckily able to find a source of olive oil from an olive tree that Rock had found. Gale cooked the fish accordingly, and it was exactly how Rock had always had it at home. He enjoyed it, but it made him feel a little homesick.

"Well, I think we made fish correctly this time," Rock remarked as he finished his trout along with everyone else.

Gale seemed to be absent-minded again, like she was hearing something. "Are you okay Gale?" Rock asked her with genuine concern. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking," she said as she snapped back into focus again.

"What should we do now?" Lillian asked the group.

"We should plan out what to do next. What shapeshifter colony we should invite to the peace we're creating. I know Pine Colony is just south of the human town, then we could head further south to Kelp Colony. And North-East is where River Colony lives, and then North of that is Tide Colony," Gale said as she peered at the map.

"I think we should head for Pine Colony first, then Kelp Colony, then Tide Colony, then River Colony, and lastly Mountain Colony, straight North. I've heard that Treetop Colony doesn't bother to have territory and go almost their whole lives in animal shapeshift in the trees. So when we run into them we could ask them to join," Lillian suggested.

James agreed on this route and so did Rock. Efficient and effective if they can persuade all of them like they did Birch Colony, Reef Colony and Oak Colony.

"And when we have all of the shapeshifter colonies agreed to have peace and mingle, we can come back here or go straight to the king himself and try to convince him!" James said excitedly.

"It'll take a really long time to do this, we have to find and convince 6 colonies." Rock commented, thinking realistically. Gale smiled and said, "True, but every dream and plan takes time. Especially when it gets this big and ambitious,"

Everyone was excited and for the rest of the day they spent their time around the fire talking, training or wandering around the forests around the field. Rock had gotten some battle lessons with James, and he could actually throw a punch now. By the end of the day everyone was tired, they ate dinner and went to sleep rather quickly.